Love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1 John 4:7-21

This morning we begin our new sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit. We just finished our series on the “I AM” statements of Jesus, which I don’t know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed. It taught me so much. Which I hope this series will do the same. This morning we will begin with the very first fruit of the spirit, Love.

Many of you have probably heard this story, yet it is always a good one to pull from the record books. I was around the age of 10 or 11. My mom comes to pick me up from school one day. I hop in the vehicle as my mom and I take off down the road. As we proceed home, I tell my mom in the most serious voice, “Mama, I’m in looovvveee!” She says, “Oh, really.” Well Ryan, who are you in love with? Since we are on video, I will not say. But I told her. Then she asks me, “Well Ryan, how do you know that you are in love?” I told her, Mama, I know I am in love, because every time this girl walks by my desk, I get this strange feeling in the pit of my arm.” LOL! No sooner did those words come out of my mouth did I realize that I had said the wrong thing. I have never lived this story down.

Love. It comes in all sorts of different shapes and sizes doesn’t it? We have love for our family, we have love for our spouses, we have love for our children, we have love for our church family. The list goes on and on, yet each type of love looks a little bit different. Well, this morning, from the book of 1 John, we are going to look at the love we have from God and the love we ought to have for one another and most especially for Him. And with that in mind, may God bless the preaching of this, His Most Holy Word.

John begins this portion of our text for today with an important word. It is the word, “Beloved.” In the Greek, it is the word, “agapētos” and it means, “a person dearly loved and cherished.” In its root is the word “agape”, which means to love. But if you will remember, agape love is not just any kind of love. Agape love is an unconditional, unearned, sacrificial type of love. The type of love in which Jesus loves us with. It is not dependent upon what someone else does for us or how they love us. It loves without boundaries.

So Peter begins with saying, “Beloved.” A lot wrapped up in that one word. Then he proceeds. “Let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” So greeting us as his beloved, Peter then encourages us to “agape” one another. To unconditionally love one another. Why? Because “love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” There is a connection here. It’s like the hymn that says, “They Will Know We are Christians By our Love.” Indeed that is how we are marked. Love is something that should flow through our veins as Christians. Yet it is sad that so much of the world today knows us more by our hatred that by our love. They see the strife and tension that is between us more than our love for one another. May each of us seek more to love as Christ first loved us and therefore fulfill our calling as Christians.

Just as love is what marks us as Christians, so does hatred mark those who are not of Christ. For John says in verse 8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Too many “Christians” can act as if they are Christians, but when you see them out in the world, you can quickly identify by their actions that they are not. It’s just like when Jesus talks to His disciples in the gospels about a tree bearing fruit. A good tree will not bear bad fruit, just as a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. We are known by the fruit that we bear. So I ask you today, dear brothers and sisters, what type of fruit are you bearing?

Following the definition of love and explaining how we as Christians are to marked by such, John then proceeds to give us the greatest example of love this world has ever known, Jesus Christ. We read in verses 9-10, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” There is no greater example of this first fruit of the Spirit, love, than that of Jesus Christ. That God Almighty would see the plight of His creation and knowing that there was no other solution, would send His only Son into this cruel, wicked world, to save us from our sins. And in so doing, would place all of the sins of the world upon His Son, so that we might live through Christ.

And then, in showing us the greatest example of love that we have ever known, John then challenges us. Using the same word as he did at the beginning, he says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” All throughout the Bible we see no visible representation of God, besides that that is through the Spirit or a theophany. Therefore, as David Guzik points out, the greatest evidence that we have of “God’s presence and work among us — love. Since no one has seen God at any time, this provides evidence for the presence of God.” How amazing is that to think about. That our love for one another and for God is a representation of the presence of God here in the world today. Where there is love, there is God. Where there is no love, there is no God. So how good are we doing at representing God in the world today?

Have you ever wanted to know if you were truly a Christian? Well this next set of verses is our proof. Beginning with verse 13, John lays out for us the proof that we are Christians. What is it you may ask? The Spirit. We read in verse 13, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” David Guzik writes, “By beginning with the words by this, John connected the thought of this verse directly to the previous verse. We can know by experience that we live in God, if His love has been perfected in us. And we know that His love has been perfected in us if we love one another. Plainly, Christians can say, “We know.” We don’t have to merely “hope” we are saved, and “hope” we will make it to heaven, thus having no assurance of salvation before we pass from this world to the next. We can know, and we can know now, on this side of eternity.” Why? Because Christ’s love and Spirit resides in us. Praise the Lord that we can know! Amen!

John then continues. He writes, “14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” John continues by giving proof once more that Jesus is real, walked on this earth and was indeed the Savior of the world. Then John goes on to say that whoever confesses Jesus as the Son of God, it is that person whom God abides in. How amazing is that? Kind of reminds me of the I Am the true vine sermon we had a while back.

David Guzik writes, “Our abiding in Jesus is not a one-sided affair, with us struggling to abide in Him, and Jesus trying to escape us. Just as true as it is that we should abide in Him, it is true that He does abide in us.

i. Jesus said in John 15:4, Abide in Me, and I in you. And in John 15:7, He said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you. One of the ways Jesus abides in us — lives in us — is through His word.” Then, to conclude this section, John basically says that if God abides in us, then so does His love, since God is love.

I went to Dollar General the other day in Oakland. I had gotten some of my favorite drinks and had just finished loading them into my truck. I had parked somewhat out of the way so getting the buggy off the side of the curb was a bit troublesome. I had already begun dreading getting the buggy back up on the curb next to the store. Well as I began to head that way I spotted a man heading in the similar direction. We exchanged glances, when all of a sudden, he asks me in the most chipper voice, “You want me to take that buggy for you?” I said, “Well sure, if you don’t mind.” He replied, “I’m headed that way. Don’t mind at all.” I don’t know for certain if that man was a Christian or not but according to his love, he sure seemed like one. People know we are Christians by our love.

In verse 17, Peter reminds us that since we are in Christ and Christ in us, we have no reason to fear. David Guzik explains this beautifullly, in regards to the day of judgement, “This is when the completeness of love’s work in us will be demonstrated. As much as we can know the completeness of God’s love now, we will know it all the more in the day of judgment.

You may know you are a sinner now; you will really know it in the day of judgment

You may know now you are not a better person than those who are going to hell; you will really know it in the day of judgment

You may know the reality of hell now; you will really know it in the day of judgment

You may know the greatness of Jesus’ salvation now; you will really know it in the day of judgment

But what does John mean about this confidence on the day of judgement? Some translations may say “boldness.” Once again, Guzik writes, “This shows the greatness of God’s work in us. We might be satisfied to merely survive the day of judgment, but God wants to so fill our lives with His love and His truth that we have boldness in the day of judgment.

i. The Bible says that one day, all of humanity will gather before God’s Great White Throne and face judgment. This day is coming! “The day of judgment is as fixed in God’s eternal timetable as any other day in world history.” (Boice)

ii. Some think they will go there and judge God (“When I see God, there’s a few questions I have for Him!”), but that is nonsense. The only way to have boldness in the day of judgment is to receive, and walk in, the transforming love of God today.

d. Boldness in the day of judgment: How can anyone have such boldness? We can imagine Jesus being bold before the throne of God, but us? Yet, if we abide in Him, and He in us, then our identity is bound up in Jesus: as He is, so are we in the world.” Therefore, we need have no fear.

We have no need to fear brothers and sisters, for those of us who are in Christ. For as the scriptrue continues, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Therefore on that final day that is as certain today as it is tomorrow, we have no need to fear. For love casts out fear and we will be surrounded and filled with the love of God. Praise His Holy Name!

At the conclusion of our text for this morning, we read, “We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Without God, we would never even know what love was. Therefore since we have been shown and given the greatest love of all, we are called to do the same. Love and hate cannot go together. It is impossible. Like oil and water. As the text says, we cannot say we love God but hate our neighbor. We must love both God and neighbor, no matter what our neighbor has done to us. Therefore, I know I have said a lot this morning, but hear this. Let us love as Christ first loved us. Let us seek to be marked by love and so spread the love in which Christ first loved us. Love God and love people. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!